Folks.....let's not take this the wrong way.....Lynch, Harvin are types of people that you need as personalities to match up with all the tough guys/bad seeds that are spread out among the NFL.....Harvin is an attitude negative guy and everyone kinda knows that Lynch marches to his own beat.
We saw how upset Marshawn was at media day when Turbin sat in a seat at the end of the row, essentially boxing Lynch in and making it more difficult to leave quickly and avoid the media.
We also know that RW and Turbin are roommates during camp and my guess is there may be a Lynch is the bell cow and ringleader and RW, Turbin and perhaps some others are tired of seeing RW on Duracell commercials, mugging for the cameras after W's on TV postgame shows, when reality is, he has not proven to this point he can carry a team on his own......remember, every snap we have ever evaluated RW on has had Lynch as a focal point of the team and a determined and very close knit defense as well.
This happens with a lot of locker rooms and I call it standard Operating Procedure.....it's not different than back here in NJ, defensive players still to this day, quietly don't respect Eli Manning and believe that he's an average QB and not a carry the team type of player.....This is from contacts I know in and around the Giants.
So what does this all mean...??
It means that it appears that the franchise QB was given 5 to 6 games plus pre-season to "expand the offense" and we saw an up-tempo, hurry up offense that showed RW's skills in home games vs Chicago and San Diego. We saw this in the opener vs Green Bay, but as teams adjust and play SEA differently, RW is reading his own press clippings.....this is my opinion and I see things this way.
RW has had throws available to him in the pocket, but bails out too quickly to try and find a better vision spot or passing lane and at times that works and other times, not so much. The last drives vs Dallas probably was his time to shine from the pocket and RW does NOT consistently do that within the context of the offense.
Please don't take this as him not being a Top 5 to 7 NFL QB, he certainly is....at the same time, in this game of the NFL, eventually teams are going to slow-rush and not allow him escape routes where he can improvise and make plays with his legs or outside the pocket. That means he will have to force throws into spots, where he might get a pick or two. That may be where teammates are thinking he's so coached into not turning it over, that it may frustrate some WR's or players into thinking RW is just stat driven to avoid turnovers.....OR if his stat line is without TO's, he will lean towards keeping the team in games and in the W column.
That type of play says Kaepernick/Alex Smith/game manager vs a player that may command 25M per year and 6 or 7 years with 80M guaranteed money....that's a lot of money if you have Harvin, Sherman, Bennett, Zack Miller as most of your high priced players.
Harvin is addition by subtraction and Lynch has been treated as if he feels he's underpaid......and the truth is that Lynch controls the heartbeat and toughness of this offense, even with his street-edgy attitude and sometimes out of line attitude....he delivers the goods and toughness, while Wilson compliments it perfectly.
Let's just say that Lynch will get his 25 carries, Turbin 10 and Seattle wins by 17+ tomorrow....It will be back to "normal" and Wilson will get back to coaching on the field and leading a new piece in Richardson or Norwood, without the drama and hostility that Harvin brought to the table.....That doesn't mean Wilson has immediately vaulted to the top of the "respect in the locker room" pecking order, but when his contract is signed in this offseason, it will be.
Whether Lynch is back next year or not, the offense will then truly be RW's offense and the rest of the pieces around him as draft picks or FA signees, will need to recognize that.
That may seem like it's confusing or that I'm hammering RW, I love him and am not, he is the ultimate QB Seattle needs for the next decade....at the same time, I need more plays out of him without Marshawn on the field, to feel 100% comfortable that he should command 25M a year, which is where I'm hearing the number will need to be to get a deal done against this expanded NFL cap next year.
Is Lynch worth 4X less than Wilson in this equation (assuming Lynch carries a 6M price tag next year).....?? that may be part of Lynch's vision on how things went down.
